I am an Occupational Therapist, and often get asked to Explain what an OT does. Over the years I have met and worked with hundreds of people with an interesting range of injuries, conditions and disabilities, both physical and psychological. The purpose of this blog is to share interesting case studies and anecdotes from my experience (confidentially of course) to help explain what an OT does.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A Short Break

I have a very adventurous two-year-old daughter. This week she fell off some equipment at the playground and fractured her right elbow (Type 1 Supracondylar fracture). She now has her arm in a bright red, arm length plaster cast. She does not appear to be in any significant amount of pain and has tolerated the cast well. I on the other hand, am beside myself.

The doctor at the fracture clinic assured me that in three weeks time, the injury will have healed and she should have no long term complications. The only restrictions given were not to get the cast wet or play in the sand.

The past few days have been challenging - mainly because my daughter still insists on jumping on the lounge and hurtling down the hallway either on her bike or on her chubby, two little legs. I am more concerned about her 'good' arm, than the injured one because it's going to take the full weight of any extra falls.

Bath time has been the greatest challenge, as my patient loves swimming in the bath, and has had difficulty keeping very still while I bathed her. The compromise we have reached is that she will keep still if I allow her to use her non-plastic-bagged arm to splash water at me.

The lesson I have learned from this experience is this:

Don't take your child's health for granted.

A fairly obvious lesson I know, and one that I should have already been taught - given I work with children who usually have long term and complicated health conditions. But it's easy to walk out of the practice doors at the end of the day, and travel home to my family where all that has happened earlier is forgotten. So I have been reminded of this important lesson, and will endeavour to remember it - long after my daughter has returned to throwing herself off equipment at the playground.

2 comments:

Oh Nic! I'm so sorry to hear about your little girl's arm! There's nothing worse than when our kids are sick or hurt. Long after they have bounced back we still feel the pain. Just remember that falls and tumbles are part of the way little ones learn about the world around them. (PS - she is just cute as a button!)